Sulky.



No. 629,237. Patentad iuly l8, I899.

F. P. CHENEY.

SULKY.

(Applicationfiled Sept. 8, 1896.)

(No Model.)

VQQL QEEEEE I \/E t ig zv. UR

Tn: NORR|5 mans no. mom-Luna. WASHWIGTON n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. V

FRANK P. CHENEY, or LOWEL MASSACHUSETTS.

SULKY.

. srncrrrcn'rron forming part of Letters Patent no. 629337, dated July 18, 1899. Application filed September 8.1896; sash N 3.eo5,129. (Namoclel-l To aZZ whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK P. CHENEY, a citizen of the United States, residin g at Lo well, in the county of. Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sulkies, of. which the following is a specification.

My invention relates tosulkies; and it consists in the combinations and devices hereinafter described and claimed.

The object of said invention is to cause the wheels in going around a curve to incline toward the center of said curve or in opposition to the action of centrifugal force. I accomplish this object bymeans of a seat which is laterally movable with respect to the main frame of the sulky and-is connected to the pivoted axles on which the wheels turn in such a manner that the wheel on the outside of the curveis so inclined as to bring its top nearer to the.cente r of the sulky by the action of centrifugal force on the seat and its occuv pant, the other wheel being equally moved in the same direction, so that the parallelism of the wheels witheach other. is always maintained, or. the same purpose may be accomplished by a laterally-movable foot-rest similarly connected to pivoted axles.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a rear viewof a part of a sulky provided with my improvement and showing a laterallymovable seat; Fig. 2, a vertical central section, on the line '2 2 in Fig. 1, of the seat and its supporting parts; Fig. 3, a rear view of a modification of what is shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a vertical central section of the seat and its supporting parts on the line 4 4 in Fig. 3.

The frame A is represented as a skeleton arch, and the wheels B B as pneumatic or bicycle wheels; but the parts may be of any ordinary construction.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the wheels B 13 turn upon short independent axles O O; pivoted at c c to the frame A. These axles are "he seat D is rigidly secured on a supplewhich loosely surrounds one of the rods a a and is adapted to slide thereon. The lower and are pivoted at e? e to the inner ends of links c e the outer ends of said links being pivoted at e e to the lower ends of the arms 0 a so that the seat D and arch E may be moved laterally and in so moving will turn the axles upon the pivots c c and vary the angles which the wheels make to a vertical plane. The wheels'are at all times parallel to each other owing to the rigidity of the arch E and the fact that the links a e and axles O C at each side of the sulky are like the corsame. The arch E is held uprightby a ledge d, which extends down in front of the frame A and holds the top of said arch against said -frame.

The seat D is normally held at the middle of the sulky by connteracting-sprin gs f ff f which are compressed between the sleeves e e and the sides of the frame which support the rods a a, as shown in Fig. 1, said springs being represented as helical wire springs surrounding said rods. The relative pressure of regulated by nuts f 4 f f f and check-nuts f f f f, which turn on said rods, said rods being screw-threaded for that purpose. a.

When asulky goes rapidlyarou'nd a curve, the tendency of the centrifugal force acting upon the sulky and the driver is to turn the tops of the wheels toward the outside of the curved path of the sulky; but with the construction abovedescribed the movement of the driver, seat, and arch E outward will cause'the wheels throughthe links 6 e arms 0 c and axles c c to assume an angle (with a vertical plane) which is the opposite of the rect action of the centrifugal forcetl1at is,

the overturning of the sulky, thus causing the indirect result of the centrifugal force to neutralize its direct action. In Figs. 3 and4 the same result is obtained by a construction somewhat difierent, but involving. alaterallymovable seat D and pivoted axles (3 0,

ends of the arch E extend below said rods a a responding parts atthe other'side of the angle which they would assume under the di' mentary frame or arch E, the lower ends of which are provided with sleeves e 6, each of the springs on opposite sides of a sleeve is will cause them to lean toward the center of the curved path and serve as abrace against .screw threaded portion a of the rod a to adjust the seat to its normal position, said nuts f j' being held from accidental turning by check-nuts f f in an obvious manner. The seat I) at the'front thereof is also provided with two other cars, one, d, of which is shown in Fig. 4:, these supporting a horizontal rod (1 which slides freely in a bracket a, which projects forwardfrom the frame A to support the front of the seat, these ears being like the ears (1 (Z above described and directly in front of them when the latter are in their normal condition. Said seat D is also provided with a backwardly-extending projection d which enters the forked upper end 9 of a lever Gr, pivoted at g on the back of the frame A. The lower end of the lever G is connected by links e 6 to yokes c secured to or integral with the axles 0 0 each link 6 6 being pivoted at one end at g to said lever G and at the other end at o e to the top of one of said yokes, and the axles O 0 being pivoted directly to the lower ends of the frame A. at c 0 Except as herein stated the parts shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are like those shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The lateral movement of the seat D in one direction will obviously cause the tops of the corresponding wheels to lean in the opposite direction.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of the frame, pivoted axles, provided with yokes or arms, a driversupporting device, a lever, to one end of which, said device is pivoted, Wheels turning on said axles, and links or rods connecting the other end of said lever to said yokes or arms. I

2. The combination of the frame, pivoted axles, provided with yokes or arms, a driversupporting device, a lever, to. one end of which, said device is pivoted, wheels turning on said axles, 'links or rods, connecting the other end of said lever to said yokes or arms, and counteractin g-sp rings,normall y to center said supporting device with reference to said frame.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, this 2d day of September, A. D. 1890.

FRANK P. CHENEY.

Witnesses:

ALBERT M, Moons, GRACE E. H'IBBERT. 

